This invention relates to a chair bath for old or physically handicapped people.
There are known various means which help those people who cannot take a bath unassisted to take a bath. Such means include a lift for lifting a naked person and carry him or her into a bathtub and a hydraulic device for elevating a water-filled bathtub. Another method is to place a bed-ridden person on a low-seated carriage and move the carriage along a moderate slope extending between a washing place and the bottom of a bathtub. These devices are, however, all for use in specialized institutions and are not intended for use at home. An ordinarily practiced method for bathing a bed-ridden person at home comprises the steps of bringing a compact handy bathtab into his or her bedroom, carrying him or her into the bathtub by hand and pouring warm water into the bathtub. After use, the water-filled bathtub has to be carried out by hand to a place where the water can be discarded.
The above-described conventional devices used in specialized institutions have a problem in that human labor is needed when carrying a person from the bed to a wheelchair in order to take him or her to a bathroom, or carrying him or her to a showering chair used when taking a shower, or to the above-described lift or low-seated carriage. At home, much greater human labor is required for carrying a bed-ridden person between the bed and the bathtub. Helpers are thus put under immense physical and mental stresses. Those who are helped will also feel ill at ease considering the difficulty of their helpers. Also, they may feel uneasy when they are carried by helpers for fear that they may be dropped.